Hazardous waste day spill irks town officials

Friday

May 23, 2014 at 2:00 AM

HAMPTON — A hazardous waste spill in Hampton on Saturday prompted a multi-agency, two-day mitigation effort because officials say a large but unknown quantity of latex paint and oil entered a local catch basin during the annual household hazardous waste collection day.

Kyle Stucker

HAMPTON — A hazardous waste spill in Hampton on Saturday prompted a multi-agency, two-day mitigation effort because officials say a large but unknown quantity of latex paint and oil entered a local catch basin during the annual household hazardous waste collection day.

The spill comes one year after ammunition was collected during the event even though regulations prohibit the collection of explosive material, and Hampton officials say these issues are enough to make them never want another hazardous waste collection in town.

"I'd say they're pretty much done as far as any future household hazardous waste collections in Hampton," said Town Manager Fred Welch.

Fire Chief Chris Silver said he agrees with that decision. He said Care Environmental, the company that the Southeast Regional Refuse Disposal District contracted to perform the collection last Saturday, had submitted plans and safety procedures that stated impervious barriers would be in place to prevent all spills and contamination from occurring during the event.

A spill of unknown size occurred for unknown reasons anyway, though, and Silver said the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, the Hampton Public Works Department and ENPRO, a mitigation company, performed work Saturday afternoon and on Monday to remedy the situation after Silver said his department allegedly observed Care Environmental employees attempting to clean up the spill Saturday without reporting it to local authorities.

"If they followed their procedures, it should've been contained within the area they were performing the collection (and the spill would've been reported)," said Silver. "My recommendation, based on the previous three years of experience, is to not let this back into town."

Silver said firefighters on duty at the Winnacunnet Road station, which is adjacent to the parking lot in which the collection took place, reported the spill after noticing Care Environmental employees were pouring an absorbent material similar to Speedy Dry into the catch basin after the collection day ended.

Care Environmental is required to report spills of 25 gallons or more when they occur, although Silver said no report was made. Firefighters investigating the spill "estimated there was 25 gallons or more" of potentially hazardous materials inside the catch basin and called it in, according to Silver, who said the exact total was difficult to measure because of sand within the basin.

The catch basin holds roughly 70 gallons of material. Silver said the contamination caused by the spill didn't cause the contents of the basin to rise past the outflow pipe. Had it exceeded the pipe, any possible contamination may have been able to flow into the salt marshes and ocean.

Roughly 55 gallons of material was removed from the catch basin Saturday afternoon. Silver said that amount included the potential contamination as well as any materials and substances used in an effort to clean the catch basin.

Public works crews plugged the outflow pipe Saturday to prevent any remaining material from leaving the catch basin because ENPRO wasn't available to perform the final cleanup steps until Monday. After spending several hours on site Monday morning and afternoon, ENPRO crews hauled away an additional 100 or so gallons of water and other material out of the catch basin, according to Silver.

It was unknown Wednesday whether NHDES will fine Care Environmental or pursue any enforcement measures due to the spill. George Carrigan, an NHDES environmentalist overseeing the spill, said "nothing like that has been discussed" with department administrators and that they are "still in the process of collecting information."

Hampton is seeking to recover the cost for town employees to assist in the cleanup.

"We are chasing them," said Welch. "We're going to take care of it."

Bud Jordan, the chairman of the refuse district, declined to speak in detail about the spill Wednesday because he said the district's board of directors has "just been alerted to it" and that "right now it's a lot of 'he said, she said.'" Jordan said the spill "may have been" caused by "water running out of an empty paint can" that Care Environmental crews were attempting to store, although he said he couldn't provide more insight because he's "not a chemist."

If the collection day is no longer held in Hampton — which is something that was a possibility for next year anyway because Hampton is attempting to leave the refuse district — Welch said it will "probably go to North Hampton" or another nearby town within the district.

Selectman Mary-Louise Woolsey said this possibility is "very sad" because it may reduce the "incentive" for local individuals to properly dispose of hazardous waste.

"It makes me concerned that we might have more being surreptitiously disposed of," said Woolsey.

Silver recommended that anyone looking to dispose of latex paint can do so by removing the can's lid, waiting until the paint inside fully dries, and then putting the can "out with their regular trash." Silver said latex paint is "no longer considered hazardous" once it is "dried and fully hardened."

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service